Larimer County Search and Rescue Pass Re-Accreditation Test

Issued by Mike Fink, Director of Public Affairs for Larimer County Search and Rescue

This weekend a group of dedicated Larimer County Search and Rescue (LCSAR) members performed various tasks in a diverse variety of scenarios and successfully passed their re-accreditation test for the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA).

Over the past several months this group of about 40 of LCSAR’s elite polished up their skills---often twice or more each week---in vertical and scree (low-angle) rescue, avalanche and snow rescue, and searching, in varied, rugged terrain throughout our large county. The training paid off. This weekend the evaluators from other MRA teams approved of our performance with passing votes on all five test scenarios.

The Mountain Rescue Association (www.mra.org), established in 1959, is an organization of over 90 Teams nationwide dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education. LCSAR belongs to the Rocky Mountain Region of the MRA, comprising the states of Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Every 5 years, each team is tested by peers from their Region in a series of five scenarios designed to simulate actual missions to which the team would respond. This rigorous peer-based testing assures that each member team maintains a consistent and compatible high level of skills.

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LCSAR is an all-volunteer non-profit corporation that provides professional mountain search and rescue personnel and resources to the county and the region as well as providing free public safety education on various topics. The eighty person staff answers eighty emergency SAR calls a year and spends four hundred hours per person per year training, responding to incidents, fund raising and providing public education. Our annual budget averages $40,000 and is obtained primarily through donations. Team members must provide their own personal gear and transportation.